Van Tien Dung

Van Tien Dung (2 May 1917-17 March 2002) was the commander-in-chief of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) from 1974 to 1976 and of the People's Army of Vietnam from 1976 to 1980.

Biography
Van Tien Dung was born in Co Nhue in the Tu Liem District of Hanoi in French Indochina on 2 May 1917, and he was of peasant origin. He joined the French Communist Party in 1936 and escaped from a French Army prison in 1944, fighting the Japanese during World War II. In 1945 he seized Hoa Binh, Ninh Binh, and Thanh Hoa from the French during the Vietnamese War of Independence and became the chief-of-staff of Vo Nguyen Giap during the siege of Dien Bien Phu in 1954.

During the Vietnam War, Van Tien Dung continued his post as Chief-of-Staff of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and led a huge front during the Easter Offensive of 1972. In 1974 he replaced Vo Nguyen Giap as commander-in-chief of the NVA and personally commanded the Ho Chi Minh Offensive of spring 1975, overrunning Saigon and ending the war. He later led the 1976-1990 invasion of Cambodia and fought China, and from 1980 to 1986 he was Minister of Defense of Vietnam. He died in 2002.